European leaders demand role in U.S.-led Russia peace talks

Defense ministers across Europe on Thursday said allied nations and Ukraine must be included in any peace talks aimed at ending Russia’s war. Members of NATO gathered in Brussels Thursday for a series of meetings this week aimed at working with the Trump administration to devise a unified response to the three-year-long conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also reportedly said his country would not accept a peace deal negotiated without the involvement of the Kyiv government.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to immediately begin negotiations for ending the war in Ukraine. After speaking with Putin, Trump also called the Ukrainian president. Zelenskyy said the two discussed how the United States and Ukraine could work to achieve peace.

Following Trump’s statements, European leaders stressed that they should not be shut out of any negotiations. Ukraine and Europe should have central roles in peace talks, said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The EU was committed to maintaining Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, she said. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius agreed and said Europe should be involved in the discussions because it will be directly affected by the fallout.

What else are European leaders saying? Pistorius and Kallas reportedly criticized the United States for granting what they call concessions to Russia before formal negotiations began. In an opening address to NATO on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Kyiv could not regain control of Crimea and could not realistically join NATO. Ukraine has long pushed for admission to the defense treaty organization and the restoration of its borders.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report about the start of peace talks between Russia and the United States.